Page 16 of One Little Kiss
“It’s been a while,” she says with a sweet, nostalgic sort of sigh as we pile out of my car.
“What, you think we’re too old just because we’re seniors now?”
She shakes her head so quickly I laugh. “Definitely not.” Linking her arm through mine and huddling against me in the fall breeze, she nods toward the skate park on the far edge of the playground. “We’re definitely not the only ones from our school here.”
I grin as I nod to some of our buddies from our class. There’s a few seniors, but most are underclassmen I don’t know very well.
I’m leading us toward the swings—always Noelle’s favorite, but she stops and I’m forced to as well or else I’d be dragging her along beside me.
“Hey, isn’t that…” She squints toward the skate park and catches the eye of a girl I don’t recognize at first. Noelle grins. “That’s Sadie.” She waves enthusiastically and the other girl smiles and dips her head as she waves back.
“I think she’s shy,” Noelle says.
I turn back to Noelle, waiting for her to keep moving toward the swings, but out of nowhere she says, “You should ask her out.”
I arch my brows in surprise. “You think?”
Her gaze fixes on me and I feel like she’s studying me. Searching my face. But for what?
I don’t know.
“You said you think she’s hot, right?”
Did I say that? I unlink our arms, continuing to walk as I scratch the back of my neck. “Yeah,” I finally agree. “But I find a lot of girls attractive. Doesn’t mean I want to ask them out.”
“But she’s new and everyone says she’s sweet.” She chases after me.
I walk faster, which is stupid because it’s not like I can outrun this conversation, but it’s making me feel all kinds of uncomfortable. I wouldn’t be surprised to find I’m breaking out into hives.
Why? I don’t know. It’s not like Noelle and I don’t discuss other girls or her dating other guys. This is not forbidden territory, and there’s no reason for me to be feeling so weird about it.
And yet, I’m walking away at a breakneck speed, and she’s out of breath when she catches up with me by the monkey bars.
“You might like her,” she starts, and I whirl around with an exasperated huff..
“I don’t want to ask her out, all right?” The words snap out of me, way faster and harsher than I mean them to.
Her eyes bulge slightly. “Yeah. Fine. Whatever.”
After a brief awkward silence, she glances past me and her lips twitch up into an impish grin. “Last one to the swings is a loser!”
FIVE
Noelle
There’ssomething about swings that’s therapeutic for me.
I tip my head back and let the wind catch my hair. I close my eyes against the bright afternoon sun, but its heat makes me smile.
For one long, blissful moment my mind goes blank with the wind and the whipping motion as my body whooshes toward the ground and then up again.
I let my thoughts scatter into the breeze.
And it’s a relief to let them go because, honestly, I don’t know what’s up with me today. Or…these past few weeks.
Okay, fine, ever since senior year started I’ve felt like this. Like I’m ten steps behind the rest of my friends. Like they’re all moving forward in all these different ways and I’m…stuck.
I keep finding myself wondering if maybe there’s something wrong with me.
